New station at Ashley Down, Bristol

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Could GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) not have re-jigged things and put on a 3 car Turbo for the inaigural passenger service?

A handful of dignitaries got a 3 car yesterday, today just 2 cars for the great unwashed.

It coped and helped the atmosphere having it so busy!

[fintan_stack]

Watching this with interest.

To the person looking at commuting to and from Yate- the connections at Filton Abbey Wood are very close or just miss so not viable if you have to wait 29 minutes.

To the person asking for a 3 car Turbo- instead of the Bristol TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) to Filton trains being regularly cancelled as they were all week due to not enough units there's a Severn Beach and a Gloucester circuit cancelled to ensure the opening day of Ashley Down isn't disrupted.

[Chris from Nailsea]

The people who really matter will be there. In the morning I've no doubt.

I spy ... a red squirrel

[grahame]

BUSY first trains!   Full report to follow.

First train to Ashley Down - the 07:25 this morning - a 2 car 165 from platform 7 at Temple Meads, and stuffed with people there to welcome the new service - a mixture of "the usual culprid" campaigners there to celebrate a magnificecnt landmmark they have been advocating for years, with sea of yellow "Bristol Rail Campaign" T shirts. To the mixture add a very wide range of other campaign / rail interests, and a load of social media reporters.  Crucially too, a whole load of local folks there to welcome their new station.  I would guess around 200 people on the train.  A sprinkling joined at Lawrence Hill, and a good chunk more at Dtapleton Road.

Crowded platform as we pulled into Ashley Down clearly GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) were in some anticipation of this as there were three or four "customer service" types there looking after a well behaved, but excited, crowd, and at least a couple of managers - I'm not sure how much was duty and how much interest and I'm pretty sure it was a mix.

It's the "opposite" of Portway Parkway as a new station if you want to describe it as that. Two platforms, and a magnificient bridge an lift rather than just a single plaform, but very limited facilities away from the station. Which perhaps explains the lack of a "big show" opening - nowhere for people to park or to run the event.

I took the first train towards Temple Mead along with a rather large crowd, but bailed at Stapleton Road to catch the seond arrival.  A very much quieter train, but still a number riding up to Ashley Down, and still quite a gathering there.  A change to take a few more photos, and look round in a bit more detail, including outside the station.

I walked down to the main road - and where work has been done to apply signage (including towards the sports grounds), nothing has been done to improve the bus stop which is minimal, dirty, and lost in the undergrowth. Not sure even where the bus stops across the road.   The track down is reasoably wide, and hard surfaces, but throught the trees and looks unlit. Speaking with a local lady, she feels safe using it but would suspect that not everyone will.

The area of Bristol comprises largely nices terraced Town Houses, but built before every family owned a car or two and walking across the hill to the main Gloucester Road, I was struck by the nose to tail cars parked on both sided of the residantail streets.  The station, stated to have an immediate cathcment of around 12,000, should have a rich vein of people moving away from driving to harvest - that's assuming the trains reliably go where and when they want. Random stop at a coffee bar on Gloucester Road to upload that ealier report, and then onwards for the rest of the day.   Just pulling out of Swindon on my way home now.

[ChrisB]

Good luck Chris from Nailsea - plenty above for you to edit!

[grahame]

Good luck Chris from Nailsea - plenty above for you to edit!

Indeed - my smell checker could not be reached due to an icky connection. I will have a look when I get home if I don't call straight asleep. Just off to count passengers now though

[Chris from Nailsea]

Good luck Chris from Nailsea - plenty above for you to edit!

Thanks for your post, ChrisB. 

I don't regard it as 'editing' - more as 'tidying up after grahame has posted'. I tend to correct some of his typos (not all of them!), only where they change the context: for example, where grahame has typed 'now' instead of 'not'.  He and I have a long-standing agreement on that.

CfN. 

[Chris from Nailsea]

The area of Bristol comprises largely nice terraced Town Houses, but built before every family owned a car or two and walking across the hill to the main Gloucester Road, I was struck by the nose to tail cars parked on both sides of the residential streets.

Tell me about it.  I used to have to find somewhere to park my Mercedes Sprinter van, within reasonable walking distance of a customer's address, just to deliver essential groceries to them.

[JayMac]

Geoff Marshall has done his obligatory 'new station' video.



Spot the minor errors...

[TonyK]

Geoff Marshall has done his obligatory 'new station' video.

Spot the minor errors...

It's still better than a lot of the major media players would have managed. The Express might have managed "New bus station opens", the Telegraph "Yet another vastly over budget station opens somewhere in the provinces", and the Guardian "New station opens in Borstal".

[Red Squirrel]

Ashley Down station reopening the 'first step' in city's railway expansion
The new station forms part of the MetroWest line

The re-opening of the railway station at Ashley Down last week after 60 years is just the beginning of the city's railway expansion, according to a local campaign group. Bristol Rail Campaign (FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site)) Secretary Mark Maggs, has expressed his support for the new station but says it's simply “the first step” on the MetroWest line.

Revised plans for a new station at Henbury have recently been submitted with a decision to be made on October 9 and although planning approval has already been granted for a brand new North Filton station stop, the original submission needs redesigning which has led to delays.

The railway campaign group would like to see not only more trains but a faster and more frequent service for passengers. The group responded to a consultation put out by transport for Wales in January 2024 which could see two trains per hour stopping at every station between Bristol Temple Meads.

“An advantage to that is that the current service could be speeded up so we get a faster and more frequent service which is what we all want. Although currently the station will be useful for going to Bristol Rovers, the cricket ground and a few local people, it’s the first step on the whole MetroWest line and something’s got to start first,” added Mark.

Bristol Rail Campaign hopes that Transport for Wales goes with the option of putting out two trains an hour between Bristol Temple Meads and Cardiff, stopping at every station in between.

Hopes for a new Portishead Station remain in limbo after the new Labour government announced a cut to the Restoring Your Railway scheme - which was set to fund the Portishead railway. Chancellor Rachel Reeves told Parliament in August: “If we cannot afford it, we cannot do it.”

Vice Chair of Rail Future for South West England, David Redgewell told Bristol Live that he is confident that all planned stations will be built and should be unaffected by the recent announcement of funding cuts. “It’s all part of a MetroWest network which includes this route and the line to Pill and Portishead, where we are currently waiting for government approval.

“This project has been around for 20 years so it predates any Restoring Your Railways project. I’m very optimistic that we will continue to build MetroWest and reopen the Charfield station (Gloucester line), Henbury, Filton North and Pill and Portishead within the next three or four years.”


Bristol Rail Campaign's vision for MetroWest shows existing stations in white, planned stations in blue and additional stations that could be added to the line in yellow.

Local Labour politicians remain hopeful about the prospect of more new stations but did not make any commitments in their speeches last week. Speaking to a crowd of invited guests at the Ashley Down station opening event last week, Dan Norris said: “We are going to redouble our efforts to make sure we are on track with the other stations in the pipeline. It’s very easy to knock local governments but actually local and regional governments are hugely important and we can see the fruits of all our labours, including our partners and the trade unions who have worked together to make it happen.”

Despite Rachel Reeves' recent announcement of cuts, Bristol North West MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) Darren Jones, who holds the position in Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s cabinet of Chief Secretary to the Treasury, joked about Reeves being jealous of him attending a station opening and said he had spoken to both her and the Prime Minister who believe that rail has an important role to play in “generating growth and unlocking growth across the country.

...continues

Source: Bristol Post

N.B. I've used an uncropped version of the BRC 'Plan for Rail' map.

[anthony215]

There's a lot of opportunities for Rail around Bristol.

Hopefully politicians in Bristol will be watching how our class 398s perform when they start entering service next summer between Pontypridd and Cardiff Bay.  The 398s would be great for local services between Severn Beach/Henbury to Portishead etc

[Red Squirrel]

Took a ride from Ashley Down to Montpelier today. Took 26 mins - Google says its a 22 minute walk - but more fun this way. 6 minutes on trains, 20 minutes waiting at Stapleton Road!

[XPT]

I note in that Bristol Rail Campaign diagram that they've got the former Horfield station down as Lockleaze.  Why not it's original name of Horfield?  Also wasn't Horfield station along with Ashley Down stations originally planned to reopen around 2016 or 2017?  But the rebuilding/reopening of Horfield station was quietly dropped for some reason!   Could do with a rethink on that really!

[WelshBluebird]

I note in that Bristol Rail Campaign diagram that they've got the former Horfield station down as Lockleaze.  Why not it's original name of Horfield?  Also wasn't Horfield station along with Ashley Down stations originally planned to reopen around 2016 or 2017?  But the rebuilding/reopening of Horfield station was quietly dropped for some reason!   Could do with a rethink on that really!

My understanding is that the proposed location of any potential Lockleaze station is on Constaple Road rather than on the original site of the old Horfield station, so that probably has something to do with it.

As for why it was dropped - again my understanding is that it was essentially and either / or between Ashley down and Lockleaze / Horfield and Ashley Down won. Probably a bit more complicated than that mind you!